National Grid ESO estimated that it has saved consumers £80 million between April 2022 and January 2023 that would otherwise have been used on constraint payments, through the early adoption of its Constraint Management Pathfinder’s (CMP) Anglo-Scottish Intertrip scheme.
The project aims to increase grid flexibility by enabling renewable generation to remain on the system and avoiding pre-emptive curtailment – prolonging the export of renewable energy.
This system also reduces the amount of constraint costs ultimately paid by consumers to turn off generation when there is the risk of a fault.
Although the service will not become fully operational until October this year, the ESO allowed six of the 15 generating unit that were successfully awarded contracts for the English/Scottish border (B6) CMP 2024-2025 service to begin operation early.
These units – the majority of which are wind farms alongside a battery storage facility – will be connected to constraint management equipment so as to prolong renewable generation and reduce constraint across the B6 border.
In total, the ESO estimates the service will deliver tens of millions of pounds in savings for consumers.
“The constraint management pathfinder is fundamental towards solving a heavily constrained area of the grid, and we have taken the initiative to drive forward innovative solutions to manage constraints on the system, whilst maximising renewable generation to ensure 100% zero carbon operation,” said head of networks as National Grid ESO, Julian Leslie.
“This builds on our wide-ranging 5-point plan which will demonstrate how we resolve constraints on the network for years to come, and reduce balancing costs, ultimately saving consumers millions of pounds.”
Current± Explores is currently running a weekly mini-series exploring grid connectivity and constraints. The first edition of which can be found here.
